- [(1) A Town Panchayat shall consist of,-(a)not less than eleven and not more than twenty Councillors as may be determined by the Government, by notification.(b)not more than three persons nominated by the Government from amongst the residents of the transitional area and who are,-(i)persons having special knowledge and experience in municipal administration or matters relating to health, town planning or education; or(ii)social workers(c)the members of House of the people and the members of the State Legislative Assembly, representing a part or whole of the transitional area whose constituencies lie within the transitional area; and(d)the members of the Council of States and the members of the State Legislative Council registered as electors within the transitional area:Provided that the persons referred to in clause (b) shall not have the right to vote in the meetings of the Town Panchayat.] [Substituted by Act 23 of 2003 w.e.f. 10.11.2003.].(2)For the purpose of elections, the Government shall, by notification, divide a transitional area into such number of territorial constituencies, to be known as wards, as there are councillors determined under sub-section (1) and each ward shall constitute a constituency.(3)Each ward shall elect one councillor.(4)Seats shall be reserved in a Town Panchayat,-(a)for the Scheduled Castes; and(b)for the Scheduled Tribes;and the number of seats reserved shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of seats to be filled by direct election in the Town Panchayat as the population of the Scheduled Castes in the transitional area or of the Scheduled Tribes in the transitional area bears to the total population of the transitional area.[Provided that atleast one seat each shall be reserved in a Town Panchayat for the persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes:Provided further that, if no person belonging to the Scheduled Castes is available the seat reserved for that category shall also be filled by the persons belonging to the Scheduled Tribes and vice versa] [Inserted by Act 23 of 2003 w.e.f. 10.11.2003.].(5)Such number of seats which shall as nearly as may be one third of the total number of seats to be filled by direct election in a Town Panchayat shall be reserved for persons belonging to the Backward Classes;[Provided that out of the seats reserved undeer this sub-section eighty per cent of the total number of such seats shall be reserved for the persons falling under category "A" and the remaining twenty per cent of the seats shall be reserved for the persons falling under category "B":Provided further that if no person falling under category "A" is available, the seats reserved for that category shall also be filled by th persons falling under category "B" and vice versa.] [Inserted by Act 24 of 1995 w.e.f. 26.9.1995.][Provided also that the number of seats reserved for the backward classes under this sub-section shall be so determined, that the total number of seats reserved for the scheduled casts and the scheduled tribes under sub-section (4) and the backward classes under this subsection shall not exceed fifty per cent of the total number of seats in the Town Panchayat.] [Inserted by Act 32 of 2012 w.e.f. 30.8.2012.](6)[Not more than fifty percent of the seats reserved] [Substituted by Act 32 of 2012 w.e.f. 30.8.2012.] for each category of persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes and those of the non-reserved seats to be filled by direct election in a Town Panchayat shall be reserved for women:Provided that the seats reserved in sub-sections (4), (5) and (6) shall be allotted by rotation to different wards in a transitional area.(7)The councillors shall be elected in the manner provided in this Act.(8)Nothing contained in sub-sections (4), (5) and (6) shall be deemed to prevent the members of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes or Women from standing for election to the non-reserved seats.(9)Notwithstanding anything contained in this section where two-third of the total number of councillors of any Town Panchayat have been elected, the Town Panchayat shall be deemed to be have been duly constituted under this Act.
